Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday raged at the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, threatening to invoke executive privilege in an effort to block the panel from obtaining a massive tranche of documents it’s demanding from several US government agencies.
“Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of my Administration and the Patriots who worked beside me, but on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our Nation,” Trump said in a statement, despite Presiden Biden having the ultimate say over whether the information can be shared.
As Daily Boulder reported Wednesday, The Biden administration has already declined to assert executive privilege over some testimony related to January 6, telling former Justice Department officials that they were free to provide “unrestricted testimony.” But the administration has not weighed in on whether the committee should have unrestricted access to records and documents from the Trump White House.
The document requests significantly broaden the search to other areas and people inside and outside government. Specifically, the select committee is asking for records from the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Department of Defense, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security and, perhaps most importantly, the National Archives — the custodian of the Trump administration White House records.
As noted by CNN, “the list of targets is long and varied, ranging from information about attempts to either carry out or defy Trump’s orders, invoke the insurrection act, martial law or the 25th Amendment, as well as for communications regarding members of the Trump White House, campaign, January 5 and January 6 rally organizers, and even alleged members of far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.”
“The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is examining the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack. Our Constitution provides for a peaceful transfer of power, and this investigation seeks to evaluate threats to that process, identify lessons learned and recommend laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations necessary to protect our republic in the future,” committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, wrote in a statement Wednesday, according to CNN.
The Daily Boulder reported earlier this week that congressional investigators are also poised to send notices to various telecommunications companies requesting that they preserve the phone records of several people, including members of Congress.
